Over the last two decades, US corporate profit margins have surged and have contributed more than half of the excess return of equities relative to cash. Without that consistent expansion of margins, US equities would be 40% lower than they
Fundamental Equities Outlook Since the beginning of the year, global equity markets have staged a swift comeback, turning around the dismal performance of the final quarter of 2018. Year-to-date, the MSCI World is up almost 16% in US dollar terms
Themes and implications from the Global Equity Investors Quarterly After a rip-roaring recovery from the miserable end to last year, it is easy to think of reasons to take a more cautious view of the prospects for world equity markets.
Overview Equity markets surged back in the first quarter of 2019, but it was only towards the end that we saw investor confidence start to recover. The first move by investors was to defend their core equity positioning and consider
Emerging Market Equity Spotlight Despite their troubles last year, emerging market equities are back in the spotlight. And, with trade tensions easing and dovish central banks in retreat, could the asset class emerge as a true leader? Trade tensions eased
Key points Global equities continue to advance with year-to-date performance now running at 14.4%, supported by the strong growth and cyclical rally March witnessed fear return with the inversion of the US treasury yield curve. We examine previous episodes and
The S&P 500® was up 1.79% in March, bringing its YTD return to 13.07%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average® gained 0.05% for the month and rose 11.15% YTD. The S&P MidCap 400® fell 0.74% for the month and was up
White Paper With stock markets fueled by extraordinary central bank intervention in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis, passive equity strategies have seen great success in terms of performance, fund flows and press coverage. Often overlooked in the haste
Emerging Markets Outlook Emerging markets (EM) have been fast out of the gate in 2019, recalling last year’s strong start and subsequent stumble. While we are constructive on the prospects for EM performance in the year ahead, we think the
Innovative Growth Companies Offer Resilient Quality. European equity markets are likely to remain volatile in 2019. Europe is home to many innovative growth companies that could perform well over the medium term.
Tectonic shifts support tech Innovation has long supported tech companies’ performance. This year is no exception, we believe. Yet meaningful shifts in technology are creating uneven benefits (and drawbacks) within the sector and beyond. As a result, we advocate a
Economic clouds are somewhat darker in Europe compared to this time last year, but we are not subscribers to the notion of an economic Armageddon. European equity markets are trading well below levels seen at the end of 2017 as
The broad-based risk rally that started after Christmas has not yet subsided, with this positive surprise for investors largely driven by the Federal Reserve signalling a slower pace of monetary tightening, and by positive signs on the trade talks between
Reaffirming the philosophy that underpins our investment process Rosenberg Equities’ core investment belief is that earnings matter. Why? Because we believe that future earnings and fundamentals ultimately drive share prices. We seek to capitalise on this by building what we
Research & Strategy Insights Equities markets have enjoyed a stellar start to the year with the global benchmark up 9% and cyclical plays outperforming. The risk-on rally contrasts with the slowing macro momentum and earnings outlook. We see an unappealing
With the U.S. market trading at decade-high premiums relative to international and emerging equities, and since the S&P 500’s earnings lead appears to be vanishing, we believe other regions are ripe to take on leadership.
Dear Eurozone equities, you have been our main hope and we have favoured you since 2014. You have been a disappointment and have lagged global equities. You may appear cheap compared to other regions, but not versus your own history.
Despite recent headwinds related to country-specific economies and trade wars, emerging markets continue to be a source of alpha for investors. The success of emerging markets in the past has been based on themes. The major theme for growth going
In February, the S&P 500 continued where January left off, posting a broad 2.97% gain, after January’s 7.87% gain (the best since January 1987, the year of the crash), mostly negating December’s 9.18% fall (the worst December since 1931). The
Use of index strategies has increased in recent years, but institutional investors globally say that has not diminished the importance of active equity strategies in their portfolios. A survey and interview program with more than 200 institutional investment decision makers
Tailored ESG integration methodology for Chinese A-shares Powerful tool to spot the winners and losers in domestic market ESG profile coverage for 100% of portfolio and 70% of universe
Executive summary Low volatility equity strategies aim to provide market-like returns with significantly lower risk. They look to accomplish this by offering downside protection and meaningful upside participation. Given their defensive nature, investors want to know whether low volatility strategies
IQ insights At State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), we engage in environmental, social and governance investing (ESG) across a broad range of asset classes and investment styles. Approaches range from the screening of ESG themes to the full integration of
On the Markets Business managers are always looking for ways to maximize the value of the firm. One way to do that is to encourage everyone to think like an owner. After all, if employees are thinking like an owner
Strategy Espresso While global growth is expected to slow in 2019, we feel that US equities are still the place to be due to relatively strong earnings and fairly robust economic data. However, investors should be cognisant of the volatility associated
